The Water Street clinic faces newly refurbished Tappen Park, ratcheting up fears that the green spaces and welcoming benches will turn again into a hangout for the clinic's 155 customers battling heroin and opiate addictions.

Karen M. Carpenter-Palumbo, commissioner of the state Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services, (OASAS) said the agency will ask University Hospital to spruce up the clinic's exterior -- long considered an eyesore -- and step up security patrols. The hospital has run the clinic for 11 years.

OASAS and the hospital will also meet with residents, merchants and officials to work cooperatively on the issue. A date has not been set.

Advance file photoThe methadone clinic on Water Street is the topic of concern for many who live and work in the area, elected officials say.

It's also possible the clinic could be moved if solutions can't be found, Ms. Carpenter-Palumbo said Thursday during an editorial board meeting at the Advance's Grasmere offices.

"The clinic contributes to the perception that people don't want to walk around there -- whether it's right or wrong," state Sen. Diane Savino (D-North Shore/Brooklyn) said at the meeting.

Ms. Savino, who has called for the clinic to be moved to the grounds of University Hospital's Ocean Breeze campus, said at the very least it should be shifted to an area "that's not as disruptive to a town center."

Assemblyman Matthew Titone (D-North Shore), said the clinic stymies the long-sought revitalization of downtown Stapleton and belongs in a less-trafficked spot.

"It's a problem because it's on a main street where merchants are trying to develop a prosperous, vibrant hub," Titone said at the session.

OASAS studies show the borough needs capacity to treat 1,867 patients recovering from heroin or other opiate drugs. The Island's two methadone clinic -- University Hospital runs a second at its Prince's Bay campus -- can handle 770, or about 41 percent of that figure.

Ms. Carpenter-Palumbo said most of the Stapleton clinic's clients live on the North and East shores. About 40 percent of them work, she said, adding that patients are often unfairly stigmatized for a neighborhood's troubles.

"These people on methadone deserve as much as the people next door," she said. "They want to be part of a community that's safe."

All the patients are borough residents.

William Daly, a University Hospital official, said the site has two uniformed security guards. To prevent patients from loitering, one patrols a 500-yard area outside the clinic, including all of Tappen Park.

The clinic opens at 7 a.m. and most clients receive their medicine by 10:30 a.m. Some, however, come as late as 2 p.m.

Even so, Ms. Savino and Titone said they've received numerous complaints from residents, merchants and area banks.

"We need to find an alternative location that will serve the [clinic's] consumers and be less disruptive to the community," said Ms. Savino.